Chris Kooi

On the court record

Chris Kooi appears in the reported corpus as criminal-defence counsel, with the reported appearances concentrated in drug prosecutions argued on judgments in Bahasa Malaysia. In a run of linked Court of Appeal appeals the charges were framed under seksyen 39B(1)(a) Akta Dadah Berbahaya 1952 (section 39B(1)(a) of the Dangerous Drugs Act 1952), punishable under seksyen 39B(2) and read together with seksyen 34 Kanun Keseksaan (section 34 of the Penal Code, common intention), as a first charge; a second charge under seksyen 12(2) of the same Act, punishable under section 12(3); and a further charge under seksyen 30(3) Akta Racun 1962 (section 30(3) of the Poisons Act 1962). The appeals engaged the interlocking presumptions of possession and trafficking under the Act and the common-intention provision where more than one accused was charged.

His reported work also includes a High Court trial that reached the close of the prosecution case. There the accused faced a charge under seksyen 39B ADB 1952 (section 39B of the Dangerous Drugs Act 1952) in respect of drugs found in a shed (bangsal), and the court's catchwords record the outcome in the court's own words: okt dilepaskan dan dibebaskan di akhir kes pendakwaan (the accused was discharged and acquitted at the close of the prosecution case). Taken together the reported matters mark Chris Kooi as counsel for the defence in serious drug prosecutions, arguing both trafficking and possession charges and their attendant statutory presumptions, at trial and on appeal. He acts consistently on the defence side of the record in these reported proceedings, testing the sufficiency of the prosecution's case against the accused. Across the linked appeals the reported issues turned on whether the statutory presumptions of possession and trafficking had been correctly invoked and rebutted, whether the prosecution's evidence had been subjected to maximum evaluation, and whether the trial court had adequately considered the defence advanced by each accused before convicting, the common-intention charge sharpening the question of each accused's individual knowledge and participation.